Krung Thepisation

It was the summer Californication came out. Busby, Nolan, James, Shoko, Tim, Rob, Jana and I…we had been meaning to go and had been talking about it for the entire semester. Wakeboarding at Tako (I think that’s how it is spelled). A man-made lake created exclusively for wake boarding….too much fun. Jana didn’t really know or care about what we were doing, she was visiting from Germany and was just there to have fun. I remember Rob trying to hit on her and how she would complain to Nolan and I about how annoying he was getting. James and Shoko were dating back then, Nolan, Busby and Tim making up the trio of bachelors. I was in a long distance relationship at the time which was silly because I was 17 and I really should have just been having fun.

Nolan was the only one out of all of us that had a car to drive. Some of us drove but not all. I learned to drive in Bangkok and if you can drive there, you can drive anywhere! So, Nolan drove us to this lake on a lazy day. He drove a four door sedan and there were eight of us. Three in the front, the rest in the back. I remember the feeling of just meeting up and going. I think we were hung over, yet the idea of being out in the sun and just having fun all day was such a promising thought that it banished any nasty feelings. Sunglasses, board shorts, cigarettes, alcohol, and a few other accessories…oh yeah, water.

The facilities itself were not impressive, changing rooms, showers, a rectangular lake with wires running around it, and of course the deck with the knee boards and wake boards. It was my first time on a wake board, actually it was pretty much most of our first times on a wake board.

‘It’s just like surfing man, trust me its easy!’
‘Yeah just make sure you distribute more weight to the back end.’
‘Oh and don’t forget, when you get to the turns make sure you go wide!’
‘Wait what happens if you…don’t…’

Too Late…

I made it about five meters before I plunged my board into the water and the cables dragged me across the water for another 3 meters before I let go.

‘That was AWESOME!’ was all my teenage mind could come up with. A few tries later and I finally made it to a turn…unfortunately due to my excitement earlier I neglected to reiterate my inquiry as to what happens if I don’t go wide on a turn. Experience truly is the best teacher.

I made it to turn 1 (there were only four turns) and I forgot to go wide. When the cable goes around the turn it looses tension and therefore you loose momentum causing you to sink in the water. Once the cable completes the turn and heads for the straightaway it regains the tension almost immediately. So when I get to the turn I begin to lose speed and my board begins to sink…a giant “?” appears over my head as I notice the cable slacken, the “?” is quickly replaced by a “!!” as I notice it begin to get VERY taught VERY fast. I did not let go of the cable and suddenly I am ripped right out of the water at an incredible speed, off of my board… once again I am body skiing across the water. I let go and swim back to retrieve my board, I pass by a pair of shorts, realize they are mine and quickly put them on hoping no one saw me, unfortunately as I grabbed my shorts one of the girls kneeboards by me and issues a quick ‘Meow!!’ as she boards right by my exposed bottom.

We all had a great time, and there were definitely more funny moments. I remember it was either Busby or James that ended up planting his face across the moving water, as in he went down face first and then his body followed…ouch! Unfortunately for us guys the girls were graceful and experienced no wardrobe malfunctions despite the fact that they were wearing bikinis.

By the end of the day our bodies were exhausted, it was the feeling of having been swimming all day long. Our faces were radiating with heat, we were so hungry and just wanted to chill out. Despite this we were happy.

The ride home was one of the best parts of the day, it definitely held my favorite feeling of the day. We all crammed back into Nolan’s car. We were tired and hungry but not cranky. We weren’t cranky because we had so much fun and everyone was just full of positive life. It was a long trip back to downtown Bangkok seeing as we were on the outskirts of the city. Steve and Tim passed out almost immediately; Shoko passed out on James and in the front seat Rob, tall ass Rob, was strictly instructed to stay up with Nolan as he drove. Jana and I talked most of the way but eventually she too fell asleep.

As I mentioned earlier, Californication had just been released, and being big fans of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, we played the tape over and over again…yes, I said tape as in cassette tape. Scar Tissue was playing while there was a calm silence right before everyone passed out. It felt almost like the video, we were exhausted, the sun was shining right in our faces, I watched the Bangkok city scene unfold before me as we drove…I remember looking at all of my friends and asking myself if this was ever going to happen again. Inside I knew the answer was no. We were all leaving Bangkok that summer to go to college. I was leaving within a couple of weeks actually and just being with those people, not saying anything but enjoying life, was such a great feeling.

The city itself was our other friend. I watched as we went from one scene to the next. Watching life in the city pass by. New buildings, broken buildings, the newest Mercedes model parked in front of a nondescript noodle stand, homeless people, children playing on the street and out of nowhere an old shopping mall with a movie theatre that must have been the place to hang out so many years ago. The billboard displaying a hand painted poster of the featured Hollywood movie dubbed in Thai, a movie which came out almost a year before.

That day was my last full serving of feeling young. Not just feeling free, but feeling like there was nothing in the world that could make me feel sad. I was so happy and so content knowing that there was so much I could do with my life. So much potential, so many unwritten pages…I was in love with life at that moment. I breathed it in, I enjoyed every second of existence without feeling like I was going to lose or gain anything. It was the calm before the storm…